F.Regional: Petecof still leads, as he and Leclerc finish on podium

They missed out on a win, but Gianluca Petecof and Arthur Leclerc came away from the seventh round of the Formula Regional season at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit with a good points haul. Both Ferrari Driver Academy (FDA) drivers got to the podium with Leclerc second in Race 1 and Petecof third in Race 3.

Difficult qualifying. The FDA pair found life tougher than expected and did not do as well as expected in qualifying. Leclerc got a great start in race 1, going from fifth on the grid to second. The race was very linear with Arthur following Oliver Rasmussen for all 19 laps, with the Spanish track not offering many overtaking opportunities over the three races on the card. Petecof was fifth past the flag in the first race, having started seventh.

Race-2. In the second race, the FDA pair lost ground on the opening lap because of the scraps at turn 2. Petecof went off in the gravel dropping to ninth, while Leclerc was third through turn 1, but went back to fifth. The Brazilian did well to move up the order to finish sixth, right behind Leclerc.

Race-3. The final race of the Barcelona weekend followed the pattern established earlier, with a linear race in which positions remained unchanged from start to finish. Petecof came home third ahead of Leclerc. The Brazilian leaves Spain with a further 33 points, enough for him to keep the championship lead, on 306 points. Leclerc scored 40 to take his total to 302, thus closing on his team-mate.

Next round. The FIA Formula Regional Championship is back in action for the penultimate round of 2020, on 22 November at Imola.